Extinguishment Doctrine in Australia - Research Paper Example

Name Tutor Unit Date Extinguishment Doctrine in Australia Australia is a Nation that is made up of the Aboriginal and non-indigenous persons. Aboriginal persons are the people who first occupied the Australia land while the latter are the ones who came later to settle on their land. The non-indigenous mighty have come to trade, spy the land, or they had ran away from their motherland from either war or some land disputes. To be specific, they came to benefit from the good of the land. Each group of people has its own culture and ethics that they do follow. As a matter of fact, the native people have been in the land for long and they expect to be honored by the non-indigenous. The current native people have inherited their forefathers’ property like land. They truly have some rights to their property like land and they are entitled to benefit from the resources in the land like minerals, water, plants and any other available resource. To protect their rights there has been and a Native Title to ensure they are not deprived their rights. They valued land because out of it, there were traditions and customs preservation, religion, history and financial empowerment. In their land there were minerals which could be mined, sell them out in exchange for either other goods, services or money. In deed, they believed that life comes from the possession from their ancestors which they had inherited from their ancestors. To live, you have to meet basic requirements i.e. food, water, and shelter and clothing. From their land, water came from rivers, seas, lakes, swamps, among others. To get food they would carry out farming, keep animals, hunt and gather fruits from trees. For shelter, they needed to make houses using the soil and rocks in their very own land. As we know, in ancient days, technology was not being used, they could make clothes out of skins and keep themselves covered and warm. That also knew that in the lands, there was beauty as a result from already existing spies of trees. Everybody born believes in the existence of a god. Due to their belief, the land where they made sacred place to gather together and carry out the religious rituals. Out the land they got offerings to give to their god. They would assemble to praise and worship their god and learn verbally and informally, what their god required from them in order to be blessed. As people from other countries came to settle in Australia, they did not understand their living styles. They did not even realize that the people they had found had some values which they preferred like their very own land. The people who came interfered with the normal running of the people of the land. Due to colonization, the people were denied some of their rights. This arouse from the formation of extinguishment doctrine. Due to the fact that they were not strongly established in their governance; had not come up with a strategy to protect their rights, the native title was interfered with. The High Court, not minding themselves about the indigenous persons passed a law saying that the non-indigenous people had a right to possess the land. In other words, the original people were to be evicted. Extinguishment though not in totality, began when colonial powers from England were imparted in the nation. They also looked for the land which was not occupied, not in use and that which was devastated. The colonial government used various ways to acquire land. Due to the fact that they would recognize the native persons, they would apply three ways to acquire land. Firstly, they could talk with them to give them seeking for an agreement with them and later on get an approval permitting them to possess their land.. In the second method, they would invade through the armed forces if the native people failed to agree with them. This was done through violent imposition from the colonial decree. In the third case, they would possess the unoccupied piece of land. This was done as they were exploring Australia looking for the areas which had not been initially occupied by anyone. The colonizers’ representatives felt that it was good to exercise their dominion by going back to the home country and invite their people to come and settle in Australia. The England colonial power introduced their laws in the country were they had settled and began to reign over Australia. It’s due to the sovereignty, that they suppressed the indigenous people, and put forth their own policy about land ownership. This policy was favorable to non-indigenous people. The policy was based on the assumption that the aboriginal people had laws which were not recognizable and could not help the people to develop. They thought that to them land had no significance, i.e. they could not carry any beneficial activity like cultivating to benefit them. The extinguishment of the laws of the native people in Australia has had its effects to the country. In a way, it came to diminish the range of rights and the amount of land over which native title of may be enjoyed. To start with, when the indigenous people were living on their own, ruled by their own laws, they were comfortable. The intrusion to land made the native people to be inferior, live in fear and they had no power to speak and express themselves. Their ownership rights were first taken away and left with no land. You will agree with me that they must have felt insecure because of the dispossession of their land. In addition, many were left homeless, with no where to go. Though at first, they did have knowledge on how they could utilize the land effectively, they were denied the right to carry out farming to get food, and keep their own animals. This also deprived them the right to meet their basic needs at an easy. Mostly, people become stable by first being in a position to produce their own food and later by investing in business. The new ownership policy made their life difficult since they had no way to feed themselves. At the same time, most a cases they could not find means to buy food. Their mining zones were possessed by the colonizers. They would use the minerals to earn them money and take it to their homeland. This denied the people the right to possess the mineral zone, mine and may be export the minerals to the other foreign needy countries. Mining was done by the indigenous people so that they would get free labour force. The colonizers also established industries. They relied majorly on the Australia’s resource mainly from their land. They would use in the same manner, that is, export, get money and send the money to their home country. Bearing in mind that they had brought some people from their homeland, the industries would only employ the whites and if they employed ant Australian they would mistreat him. This denied them employment opportunities that denied them the income for their upkeep. This would mean that they had to strain financially to meet their needs. The other right the country had, was the right to have wildlife spread allover, once industrialization began, they were limited in terms to space to habit and food to feed on like graze. The industries also produced some pollutants. These pollutants polluted the air, the land and waters. This indeed made the life of the indigenous people to be very difficult. Improper pollutant disposal has caused various diseases to the people, animals, thus limiting the development of people. The people who did not adhere to their rules were imprisoned and latter taken to their homeland for forced labour. This really denied them the opportunity to live in their own country and stay with their family members. The relatives were left to suffer because they were not assured if they will ever come back to their own country. This meant that, a family would loose their member(s) whom they loved and might be was the bread winner of the family. Out of the process of colonization, there was a law about water use which was put by the colonizers. The indigenous had limited access to waters for fishing, irrigation and home use. They never enjoyed their rights fully because England colonizers valued themselves and were superior if at all there were to fish, the native people had to go the areas were the fish were rare to be found and were expected to catch few of them. Later on, we see the colonial power, England, pressurized the people until they could no longer yield to the pressure. This caused some conflicts between the two parties. The indigenous people felt that they were really being misused, for they actually relied on them for skilled labor like in the pastoralism. They were to move from one place to another with their livestock feeding them. Due to colonization, with time, the courts in the Australia came to realize that they were being denied their land ownership rights and had to curb this problems. This was reinforced by some cases such as Mabo Versus Queensland’s case. These disputes came as a call for the Australia’s Government to stand and defend the native people who were now hopeless and helpless since they could not access their own land and enjoy their ownership rights fully. Through High Courts, the Native Title was to be revisited for had noted the outcome of the extinguishment doctrine. This contributed to the establishment of a Native Title Act in the year 1993. In this act the privileges and rights of indigenous person were based on customary laws and ethics, and they were to be acknowledged and followed by them all. They were allowed to have access to land and waters. The indigenous, customary title rights and privileges were to be acknowledged by the common law of Australia Government. We have learnt that the extinguishment doctrine was meant to terminate the rights of the native people which they would have enjoyed. Through the revision and amendment of the Native Title, it helped the people of Australia greatly. To start with, the native Australians lived on their own laws which they had set. The new doctrine made it possible for establishment of legalization. Some of the leases like pastoral, business – based, farming and housing leases were falsely acquired. Through this act, unlawful leases were retrieved by the Government, and they were rightly grouped. They were also put into the right use. It will be true to say that selfishness is one of the greatest problem in political, commercial and social arena where an individual can acquire some property illegally if investigation is not conducted to produce the lawful documents. To add on, we can say that in the past before the new doctrine, the people of Australia were governed by a law which was common and had no specifications on how to solve problems. There were no definitions on the protocol which could direct people on how land would be passed from one person to the other and how to solve a conflict if it arises. Cases like Mabo versus Queensland’s case, has lead to the amendment of the Native Title to produce an Act that is specific and has clauses of the course to be taken once there are disputes. Economically, this doctrine deprived them the land they would use to construct their own industries, shops and area to mine. The land could have benefitted them so much since they could exchange goods for other goods and services. Through the doctrine of extinguishment, we find that it opened the eyes of the indigenous people to have some set standards that would help in case of land conflicts. The parties involved were now expected to report the case to court that would take care of it. Through legislative and judiciary institutions, they listen to their case, investigate and solve it accordingly. In Australia, the process involved in judging is always demanding. Research is conducted to discover the truth or the basis of the dispute. Secondly, discovery of issues, followed by recognition of the related law to be applied. The law is then applied to the cause of the dispute so as to come up with the final solution. Orders from the judges are needed to be brought forward to be used in order to finalize the case. Judgment is now passed afterwards. Looking into some of the cases that have been handled by the judiciary of Australia, we can say that it is a committed institution. They are really intensive and effective. No wonder, they have there are values to uphold and conserve legislature and judiciary i.e. justice, predictability, coherent effectiveness and power distribution. As far as business was concerned, the Government came in to ensure that they would grow locally and internationally. To protect its native people they came with the following strategies to boost their economy. There before, many people sat on some resources which if Government was allowed to buy the land, utilize it, to advance economically. They established industries in areas which were suitable for industrialization. Some of the areas had mines which were mined for trade both locally and internationally. Some of the landscapes like on the mountains were favorable for Wildlife reserves and Forests. The Government bought the land for game reserves and national parks. This was used for wildlife conservation and to attract both local and international tourism. This assisted the government to collect revenue, employ its own people thus improving their living status and standards. On the other hand, trees were planted intensively and extensively in the forestry selected zones. This helped in soil and climate conservation. In return, Australia who harvests trees for their own use, and the wild animals would feed on them. Through amendment of the Native Title, we notice that, the Government introduces the power to live together in the same land. In this case people could own land, lease it or construct some estates or building for shops and rent them out. In so doing the person could advance financially, and the government would tax the businessmen and earn revenue for advancement of the state. We can say that, through the new law, there are some clear definitions of ownership rights. In case of disagreements, both parties will be assisted by the set laws to quickly settle it. This indeed leads to ownership satisfaction. Through land leasing, one could give out his land for mining. This benefited both the individual and the country as a whole. The owner would gain income from the leashing charge he asked for, offer an opportunity for employment to the persons who will be hired to mine, and government from taxes made. Through colonization and extinguishment doctrine, the government learnt that they were generally weak and had no identification as government that can stand and fight for its people. Through amendments programmes, they learnt the way they can stand and protect themselves from external exploitation. Through revision of former laws set to govern land, in which some where superimposed as Australia was being colonized, the state acquired national identity. This symbolizes a sense of independence where government can stand and decide on its own the direction to follow so as to benefit as one people and limit the other nations from coming to set rules and regulation to govern them. Due to the fact that the local Government took its position, this promoted respect among the citizens. A person will always treat some one’s property with a sense of reverence since he knows in case he mishandles, there some consequence which may befall him from the already established authority. To add on this principle of respect, we can note that justification comes out clearly as an advantage to the country. This is because, the doctrine always for honesty in case of conflict, where law must be strictly followed without biasness towards one party. As the government advanced, they came up with a constitution which gave governance structure. In it, they were the executive, law-making and judiciary bodies with distinct responsibilities and were independent though they worked hand for the welfare of all citizens. Still on the same, since the judges who serve government, are ruled by the same law, this promotes reality. This means that the laws in the new doctrine were well thought of as they were being made, and thus they very applicable to the nation and they were made to promote the native people of the land. It is due to this same reason why the Government officials cannot afford to abuse the powers. The executive, lawmaking authorities and the judges are accountable to the upper house. This discourages impunity, corruption, and abuse of authority in the government. If any misuses power, through journalists and broadcasting media, self-regulating judiciary body, and politician, his deeds are exposed. The punishment given traditionally through Native Title Act once a land dispute has occurred may not be proportional to crime committed. Sometime they can kill some one where else they could have fined him. This leads to unnecessary death penalties hence more disputes. In Australia’s constitution, there is freedom to speech. This allows citizens not to sit and watch as their land is being misused or taken by force. Because this is in written form, unlike in their earlier setting of laws, an individual can stand and claim back his land or deal with the case of misuse. To ensure that there was growth and development in all grounds, the government provided subsidies, to farmers like give the discounts whenever they bought seeds, farming equipment and materials and fertilizer. Since most of them were primitive and uneducated they supported them to be educated on agricultural practices which can result into maximum production. They also allowed them to use water for irrigation during dry seasons. This encouraged improved productivity in the land. Some of the land had laid in waste. The government funded for land reclamation to be done. This process involved planting trees in areas where mining had been done and also starting projects which can generate money. Also, unlike the other colonial government which used to cut down trees, clearing of forest was prohibited so as to conserve some of the species that could not easily be found. They also introduced grazing methods which ensured no pasture that was misused. In conclusion, I can say that the establishment of extinguishment doctrine was aiming in limiting the indigenous people enjoying the range of rights and the amount of land over which native title. For some time, the doctrine was used to deny them their rights as discussed. Out of the sufferings, mistreatments and the disputes that came forth, the local government was excited to arise and fight hard from the freedom of country. In fact, its establishment opened the eyes of the government. It helped the indigenous people to be finally recognized and assisted by its own government to advance economically, and be civilized. Though they were completely denied their rights, the new Native Title Act which was established through amendments of the initial one, it helped them to come up with a structure for acknowledgment and working of delegate bodies that offer title holders. The government gave the citizens some funds to recompose for their title issues in respect to the Act. Australia is now developed and well equipped with a comprehensive and efficient official system so as to grant equality and evenhandedness to its inhabitants. This cost them time and patience as they were being colonized. The doctrine of extinguishment was of great importance despite the fact that during that period they were severely hurt, through deprivation of the land rights. After much struggle, mistreatment and sufferings they have obtained lawful independence and they have identity to be proud of. It is no longer under the hands of its former colonial government. Australia Government leaders learnt though the hard way and decided to start protecting their people, encouraging the one’s who were highly affected. They went ahead to sponsor them so start over again. This was done through faithful and just leadership, were their say corresponded to their words. They defined a system giving out possession rights of their land which made people to regain their land though the process was hard. Work Cited Moens G. and Gillies P, International Trade and Business : Law, Policy and Ethics, 2nd ed. Milton Park: Routledge-Cavendish, 2006. Bruce B, Jill Cowley and Lynette F. 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